Groups Sue Over Killing Wolves in Wilderness

posted Jan 17, 2014, 6:40 PM by chloe owens

1/7/14, by Rebecca Boone, The Spokesman-Review

Groups sue over
killing wolves in wilderness

Conservation groups are suing federal and state officials
over Idaho’s plan to track and kill wolves from two packs in central Idaho’s
wilderness. Idaho wildlife officials
hired the hunter late last year to begin killing the two packs in the Frank
Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game hopes it will aid the recovery of
elk populations in the region…bureau chief Jeff Gould said that using a
professional hunter and trapper will help the department determine if it’s a
cost-effective method for managing wolves…”IDFG’s wolf extermination program
threatens the wilderness character of the largest forested wilderness in the
continental United States by removing animals that are a wilderness icon and
whose undisturbed presence in the wilderness is critical to maintaining
ecological balance among wildlife species,” Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso
wrote in the lawsuit.